Method and apparatus for producing stranded-cable components



Sept. 11, 1962 G. DEMMEL 3,

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING STRANDED-CABLE COMPONENTS Filed May6, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 11, 1962 G. DEMMEL 3,053,039

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING STRANDED-CABLE COMPONENTS Filed May6. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3,053,039 METHGD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCINGSTRANDED-CABLE CGMI'ONENTS Georg Demmel, Berlin-Siemensstadt, Germany,assignor to Siemens-Schuckertwerke Alrtiengesellsclraft,Berlin-Siemensstadt, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed May 6,1960, Ser. No. 27,400 Claims priority, application Germany May 14, 19597 Claims. (Cl. 5735) My invention relates to methods and apparatus formanufacturing stranded cables and stranded-cable components, such asstar-quads and other twisted groups of cable conductors, preferably forcommunication lines.

According to the known manufacture of strandedcable components, theindividual wires or wire groups that constitute the elements to betwisted together on the cabling machine, pass individually over capstanpulleys through a symmetrizing device and thence to the twistingmechanism of the cabling machine where the wires, wire groups or otherelements, hereinafter collectively called strands, are formed into thedesired cable component, whereafter the stranded cable component iswound onto a take-up drum. In the conventional cabling plants, thestrands are pulled ofi supply drums located inside of the machineassembly, and the twisted quad or other cable component is wound up on adrum mounted outside of the machine assembly for rotation about astat-ionary axis. However, there are also cabling methods which operatein the reverse manner with respect to the travel of the elements to betwisted. That is, according to the reverse method, the strands arepulled from a supply at a stationary location outside of the cablingmachine proper, and the twisted cable component is ultimately wound upona take-up drum located inside the machine. Cabling machine assemblies ofthe latter type are disclosed, for example, in US. Patent 2,956,391,issued October 18, 1960 and in the copending application of H. Menke etal., Serial No. 11,366, filed February 26, 1960, now Patent 2,985,994.My invention particularly relates to cabling machines of the uprighttype operating in accordance with the reverse method last mentioned.

Regardless of the particular method and equipment being employed, it isnecessary, as a rule, to identify the insulated individual wires or wiregroups in the cable. Such identification is usually applied when theindividual wires are provided with an electric insulation of syntheticmaterial consisting of a full bodied synthetic substance or a syntheticfoam material. The identification is applied while the individual wireemerges from an extrusion press in which it is jacketed with thesynthetic insulation. In most cases, an identifying color is applied tothe surface of the insulation. This method, however, has thedisadvantage that, for example when producing star-quads, fourdifferently colored or differently identified individual conductors mustbe produced and must be kept available for the cabling of a quad.

it is an object of my invention to simplify the application of anidentifying marking to the individual strands or other cable elements,particularly when using individual wires or wire groups insulated bysynthetic material.

According to my invention, I take advantage of certain operatingfeatures of the above-mentioned cabling equipment operating inaccordance with the reverse method. That is, my invention requires theprovision of a cabling plant in which a twisting machine of the uprighttype receives each of the individual strands from a supply locatedoutside of the cabling machine proper at a spacially fixed location,whereas the twisted cable component produced from the strands is woundupon a take-up drum located centrally within the cabling machine.Operating with such a machine, and according to my invention, the

individual wires or strands, as they are being pulled off the supply,are drawn through a stationarily mounted coloring or identifying deviceand thereafter through a stationary drying device before entering intothe twisting mechanism of the cabling machine proper. This has theadvantage that when the individual strands are being insulated withsynthetic plastic by passing them through an extrusion press, allstrands may be given a uniformly colored or colorless appearance, theidentifying markings being automatically applied only when the strandspass into the cabling machinery.

The method according to the invention can be performed by pulling theindividual strands through separate marking devices and separate dryingdevices. However, according to another feature of my invention, allstrands to be twisted together in the cabling machine can be passedthrough a common identifying and a common drying device. It ispreferable to arrange all strand-supply drums for the respectivecomponents of a quad on one and the same side of the cabling machineproper.

The invention will be further explained below with reference to theembodiment of the invention illustrated by way of example on theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a cabling machine assembly.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view onto the plane denoted by IIII in FIG. 1;and

FIG. 3 is a top view of a modified arrangement.

The machinery illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 serves for the production ofstar-quads and is of a type in which the individual strands are pulledthrough separate identifying and drying devices prior to entering thetwisting mechanism proper. The four strands 13, each consisting eitherof a single insulated wire or an insulated group of wires, are pulledout of stationarily mounted supply containers 105. All four strands areprovided with an insulation of synthetic plastic, for example foaminsulation, having all the same color or being left colorless, i.e. inthe state of the natural appearance of the extruded insulation. That is,each individual strand, as it comes from the extrusion press where theinsulation is placed upon the conductor, is simply wound into one of thecontainers 105 in form of a coil or loop 106. All storage containers 105are located on one and the same side of the cabling machine.

The individual strands pass over a guide roller 205, which is preferablyprovided with a controllable brake 205a, and which changes the directionof the strand by Thence each strand travels through a marking device 206in which a coloring dye or impression is applied to the insulation,whereafter the strand passes through a drying device 207. After themarkings are dry, the strands pass over a common guide roller 208 andanother guide roller 209 over a common pulling capstan roller 210 whencethey pass into the symmetrizing device of the cabling machine. Thesymmetrizing device comprises for each stranda vertically displaceabledancer roller 19 and a stationarily journalled roller 20. If desired, anadditional pre-twisting and a re-twisting device may be located ahead ofthe symmetrizing device.

From rollers 20 the strands pass through a twisting nipple 21 of arotating cabling basket 22 and thence over guide rollers 23 and 24, aguide pipe 25, and two further guide rollers 26, 27 to the take-up drum28. The cabling basket is driven from motor 30. The take-up drum isjournalled in a frame structure 33 coaxially journalled about thevertical axis of the cabling basket and so geared thereto as to remainstationary while the basket 22 is rotating. The drum 28 is driven from amotor 29 mounted on the stationary frame structure 33.

As is apparent, the guide rollers 205 and 208 located on both sidesrespectively of the identifying and drying Patented Sept. ll, i962.

3 devices make it possible to have the strands travel horizontallythrough horizontally extending, identifying and drying means.

According to FIG. 2 the strand-supply containers 105 are located on partof a circle about the center point of the guide roller 208. Such aunilateral arrangement of the strand-supply means with respect to thecabling machine proper is particularly advantageous in permitting aspace-saving grouping of the identifyin and drying equipment.

In the modified embodiment according to FIG. 3, the strands 13 comingfrom the supply containers 105 pass over guide rollers 211 and 212through a common marking device 213 and thence through a common dryingdevice 214 whereafter the strands pass through a perforated disc 215 tothe common guide roller 208 from which they enter into the symmetrizingdevice in the same manner as in the machine assembly according to FIG.1.

The individual strands coming from the respective supply containers ordrums may also be passed through separate marking devices as exemplifiedby FIG. 2 but may thereafter pass through a single drying device likethe one shown at 214 in FIG. 3. In this case suitable guide rollers orother guide means are preferably provided between the individual markingdevices and the common drying device. The strands passing throughseparate marking and drying devices according to FIGS. 1 and 2, may alsobe pulled into the cabling machine proper by means of separate capstanrollers in lieu of the common capstan roller zw mentioned above. Thecommon guide roller 2118 illustratedin FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 may be providedwith separate guiding grooves for the respective strands, or separateguide rollers may be substituted for the com mon guide roller 208. Theidentifying markings may consist in a complete coloring of the entirestrand surfaces obtained by passing them through a dye bath, or themarkings may be imprinted upon the insulation in the conventionalmanner, for example in form of color rings which are produced by passingthe insulated strand between rotating inking rollers and which recurrepetitively along the strand at a given distance from each other.

I claim:

1. In the manufacture of communication cable components by twistingindividual insulated cable elements on a cabling machine having aninteriorly located take-up drum for receiving the twisted product, themethod of facilitating identification of the cable elements in theproduct which comprises pulling the individual insulated elements fromrespective stationary supply locations along respective fixed paths intothe cabling machine while the elements are in unmarked condition,applying to the insulated elements a coloring marking along said path,and thereafter subjecting the marked elements to drying along saidpaths.

2. Apparatus for producing communication cables and cable componentsfrom individual insulated conductors, conductor groups and the likestrands, comprising a plurality of stationarily located strand supplymeans each containing, when in operation, an insulated strand notpreviously marked for identification, a cabling mechanism for twistingsaid strands together, a take-up drum rotatably mounted inside of saidmechanism for receiving the twisted cable product, guide means definingfor each strand a predetermined and stationarily located continuous pathextending from a respective one of said supply means to said cablingmechanism, marking means mounted along at least one of said paths forapplying a coloring agent to a corresponding respective strand as ittravels along said path from said supply means to said cablingmechanism, and a drying device mounted between said marking means andsaid cabling mechanism for drying the coloring agent.

3. In cable producing apparatus according to claim 2, said guide meansincluding a guide pulley common to all said paths and located betweensaid cabling mechanism and all of said supply means, said marking meanscomprising a plurality of separate marking devices each located betweensaid guide pulley and a respective supply means for applying a coloringagent to respective strands, and said drying device comprising aplurality of separate dryers each mounted between said guide pulley anda respective marking means for drying the applied coloring agent.

4. In cable producing apparatus according to claim 2, said guide meansincluding a guide pulley common to all said paths and located betweensaid cabling mechanism and all of said supply means, said marking meanscomprising a single marking device common to all of said strands andlocated between said guide pulley and said supply means, and said dryingdevice comprising a single dryer also common to all of said strands andlocated between said guide pulley and said marking device for drying theapplied coloring agent.

5. In a cabling apparatus according to claim 2, said supply means beingall located on one and the same side of said cabling mechanism, saidguide means comprising two guide rollers located respectively ahead ofsaid marking means and behind said drying means relative to the strandpath and defining a horizontal portion of said path, and said markingand drying means having respective vessels extending horizontally alongand about said path portion.

6. A method of producing a twisted multi-conductor cable having aplurality of insulated conductor strands identifiably distinguishablefrom each other in the completed cable, comprising the steps ofsupplying a plurality of individual unmarked conductor strands fromrespective supply lomtions each fixed in space, pulling said conductorstrands along respective predetermined and stationary continuous pathsextending from said respective fixed supply locations to a twistinglocation common to all said strands, and applying an identifying markingto at least some of said strands at locations along said paths between arespective supply location and said twisting location.

7. A method of producing a twisted multi-conductor cable having aplurality of conductor strands identifiably distinguishable from eachother in the completed cable, comprising the steps of supplying aplurality of insulation-covered individual unmarked conductor strandsfrom respective supply locations each fixed in space, pulling saidconductor strands along respective separate predetermined, stationaryand continuous paths extending from said respective fixed supplylocations to a location common to all said strands, applying anidentifying coloring agent to at least some of said strands at alocation along the respective paths of said strands at locations alongsaid paths between a respective supply location and said location commonto all strands, and drying the applied coloring agent along said pathsimmediately prior to said common location.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS214,148 Hunt Apr. 8, 1879 1,071,676 Heany Aug. 26, 1913 1,887,851 HinskyNov. 15, 1932 1,979,995 Pfitzer Nov. 6, 1934 2,775,860 Morrison Jan. 1,1957 2,921,429 Haug-witz Jan. 19, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 591,647 GreatBritain Aug. 25, 1947 1,032,350 Germany June 19, 1958 910,431 GermanyMay 3, 1954

